Random review:
“A three-year-old tester managed to create several wildly different pictures and print them out, all by herself, within minutes of logging on.”
— TimeOut New York Kids Magazine, November 2004

Reviews - Community Kids

Bill Kendrick, lead developer of Tux Paint, was interviewed in
the December 2007 issue of
Community Kids,
a locally owned monthly parenting journal
in Vacaville, California.

Tux Paint

Great Fun for Your Kids... If They Can Get You Off the Program!

By Michelle Trippi

Is your 7-year-old boy writing code for video games? Mine certainly
wasn't at that age, but then again, I have a daughter who was too busy
playing with Barbie while all dressed up as Cinderella and imagining she
was a princess. Maybe it is just a boy thing, but no one I know has one
of those computer code-writing boys hanging around their house. That is
exactly what Bill Kendrick, now a father and resident of Davis, was doing
when he was 7. Do you remember Atari and Commodore 64? That was Bill's
inspiration for his new children's paint program called Tux Paint.

When Bill first contacted us to tell us about Tux Paint, I was on
deadline and had to stick with my schedule so I could have the weekend
off with my family. I thought I would just take a look-see at his website
quickly and then answer the email in a few days. Well, sorry family, I
had every great intention of not working this Saturday; but I downloaded
Tux Paint and played with it for a few hours. Those who know me know
I am weak in the knees when it comes to any fun and artistic computer
program and Tux Paint is a blast!

Tux Paint is a free fun computer drawing program for children ages 3
and up and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. With the
help of volunteer developers from around the world, it has become a labor
of love. It has been translated, at least partially, in 75 different
languages. It is different from other paint programs such as Windows
Paint because it was designed with kids in mind. Sporting big and easy
to click buttons and silly sound effects when you paint, Tux Paint tries
to keep things simple. It also includes a tool for parents and teachers
that allows them to configure Tux Paint to be more suitable for different
age groups (for example, computer lab versus home desktop).

Bill is a very busy guy indeed. In 1999 he co-founded the Linux Users
Group of Davis and in 2002 [it] was one of the members who mentioned that there
were no paint programs for Linux that were easy enough for his, then 4
and 7 years old, boys. "I decided to take a crack at it," says Bill. With
his Atari and Commodore 64 inspiration and the simplicity of the Palm
PDA and TiVo in mind, Tux Paint was born. In the meantime, Bill works
for LimeLife and commutes by train to Menlo Park from Davis. LimeLife
creates cell phone games, whose applications and content are geared
towards women. He works on the games and applications himself and also
states some of the "underlying glue." I did not ask for elaboration on
what the "underlying glue" was. Anything that hides behind the user side
is completely out of my comfort zone and I start to get hives when they
try to explain. So you can ask Bill yourself if you are curious.

Married to Melissa, they are the proud parents of William; and they
will be celebrating William's 1st birthday in December and mom Melissa's
birthday, too, as William was born on his mom's birthday. Bill and Melissa
lived in Davis for 5-1/2 years while Melissa was finishing her degree
at UC Davis. They moved to the Bay Area, and when William was a few
months old, they moved back to Davis. "We've been back in Davis since
spring, and I still commute by train part time; but we can't imagine
ever wanting to move back," Bill explains. "Davis is such a wonderful
place for families."

When we asked Bill if he had any tips for parents trying to market and
start their own program, he told us that since Tux Paint is free, he is
not trying to make a living off it; so it is fairly low stress. "However,
it takes a very long time to get things going. You have to be patient,
especially when volunteers are involved. I also learned this from the
Linux group." Where is Tux Paint going in the future? Bill recently got
a hold of a drawing tablet made especially for kids. Since it is USB he
says it will work fine on Linux and Mac, but the software that comes with
it is only for Windows. He says the tablet would be perfect for drawing
in Tux Paint so he is "slowly" looking into how to make that happen.

Bill tells us that others are working to get Tux Paint on the One
Laptop Per Child project's XO Laptop, previously known as the $100 laptop,
though it's not quite that inexpensive yet. He also tells us that he is
eager to make the documentation easier to read and more professional
looking. For other future Tux Paint ideas, Bill says, "We're always
happy to accept new artwork and translations from the community!"

You can download a free version of Tux Paint at www.tuxpaint.org and
there is also a link at www.communitykids.com on our Fun Stuff Page. For
information on One Laptop Per Child visit www.laptop.org. To reach Bill
Kendrick you can email him at bill@newbreedsoftware.com.